Chapter 1
THE FOLLOWING PAGE IS JUST A DRAFT AND WORK TO EXPAND IT IS CURRENTLY UNDER WAY. THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IS HIGHLY FRAGMENTED AND FOR THE MOST PART INCOMPLETE. VIEWER DISCRETION IS THUS A MUST, ALSO BECAUSE OF THE INEVITABLE SPOILERS. Introduction: Chapter 1 "Gods and Monsters" is the opening chapter of the game. Walkthrough (contains spoilers): Not so long after receiving his verdict of acquittance, Mordred Foley is suddendly contacted via phone for a job offer. Given that his reputation and professional integrity were both jeopardized when his trial became public, he is now struggling significantly in finding customers for his own business and is not willing to let go of this rare opportunity as he would even resort to work with questionable figures as long as it means making an earning and surviving. He is thus overly excited and doesn't give much weight to the fact he was unable to learn anything about his client except that he is allegedly the assistant of a well known politician. Moments before the arrival of said client, Mordred is also able to discover upon reading the local newspaper that a murder had taken place four days before, on February, 22nd. The newspapers hadn't reported it earlier due to the alleged involvement of public figures of crucial relevance to the upcoming elections. Several witnesses described the ritual flavor and extreme violence of the murder as the most striking aspects of the event. Mordred's new job opportunity is soon revealed to be closely connected with this murder as the client is revealed to be Julie Ward, the assistant of the only suspect arrested by the police so far. As soon as she arrives she acidly asks for Hera to leave due to the confidentiality of the meeting with Mordred. Hera immediatly becomes infuriated as she feels personally attacked: the party represented by Julie is openly racist towards immigrants like her. She does however comply and leave the two to their meeting. Julie Ward makes it clear she intends to have Mordred carry out an investigation that would clear the name of her boss, Richard Baker . Doing so would later allow her to use the case to influence public opinion and accuse political oppositions of having tried to frame Baker fearing a loss in the upcoming elections. She also hints that Mordred's bad reputation was actually the very reason he was chosen for the job as the party wouldn't oppose any use of illegal or immoral methods to clear Baker's name (whoever is arrested in his place being nothing but a mere detail). Finally, she offers Mordred a reward of 50.000 credits and the possibility of clearing his reputation should he succeed in his task. Once the meeting is over Hera confronts Mordred, pointing out that helping the Black Bands could indirectly help them win the upcoming elections. She fears this could trigger an outburst of violence just as burtal as the one she witnessed several decades before upon first arriving in Nova Polemos. She begs Mordred to reconsider or at least think about it, and the player has to choose Mordred's ultimate reply between dismissing her critics right away or promising he'd at least think about it (the choice triggers different dialogue screens but doesn't otherwise affect the course of the plot). Mordred ultimately decides his first step would be taking a closer look to the murder scene. Upon arriving at Treasury Park he discovers the police had already meticolously cleared all the evidence to prevent information leaks due to the case's heavy political involvement. Fortunately for him, Julie Ward had already arranged everything so he could have full access to the scene, allowing him to bypass the police perimeter in front of an infuriated Freya Goldsoul. Using his AquaOS to project a hologram of the murder scene, Mordred is shocked to learn that the way the murder was carried out is identical to the one typically used by Pandora. The shock immediatly causes Hera to panic, prompting Mordred to wonder whether it would be better for him to close the AquaOS call right away to protect her. The player has to choose Mordred's ultimate decision, but the plot won't be affected significantly (if he doesn't hang up on Hera she will slightly help in the upcoming investigation part). The victim is a girl called Alicia Hart, an aspiring artist and secret lover of Richard Baker. The assassin killed her by cutting her throat and then proceeded to surgically remove her eyes, placing them in her mouth and sewing it afterwards. Her body was also tied to a tree while several daphne flowers were scattered at her feet. Finally, the killer also planted a heavy lead arrow in the victim's chest and covered the lower half of her body with an elegant cloth, leaving the top bare. His meticolous efforts served to recreate the myth of Apollo and Daphne. In a trash bin next to the murder scene, Mordred was surprisingly also able to find a leather glove damaged by a clear cut, with some dried blood still on it: the police had inexplicably missed out on it. A nearby bench was also found broken, suggesting a fight could have taken place there. Mordred and Hera ultimately conclude once again the murder must be connected with the Pandora case, even though the detective also notices some striking differences. A police officer suggests the following dynamic: Baker had allegedly lured the victim into a trap to attack her with a knife but the girl was able to react, wounding the assailant's hand with his own knife before succumbing to him. The killer would have then proceeded to set up the corpse taking advantage of the park being deserted at night (an operation otherwise estimated to require several hours). Baker's motive would ultimately be that he was being blackmailed by the victim after the two had been lovers for years, a very dangerous situation to find himself into given that a public statement on Alicia's part would destroy both his public and private life as well as his political consensus in the upcoming elections. An eyewitness also claimed to have seen Baker just as he was tying the body to the tree: she is the suspect's sister-in-law, Abigail Sherman, though the police had not been able to determine why she had followed him just yet. Mordred is unable to learn more as an infuriated Freya interrupts the conversation and commands the officer to resume his duties. The detective is nevertheless able to capitalize on her strong sense of justice to win a bit of her trust and have her listen to him as he points out the discrepancies he noticed. To begin with, Baker would lack the surgical skills required to remove the victim's eyeballs with such precision. Moreover, it would be impossible for him to do so after being allegedly wounded. Freya however replies this would only imply the possibility that he had an accomplice that went unnoticed. Nevertheless, Mordred also suggests that the reason Baker was seen touching the body hanging from the tree was possibly that he believed Alicia to still be alive, as the cut on her throat was partially covered by her hair and not clearly visible, possibly leading Baker to think she had been merely wounded by the lead arrow (which he would have thus tried to extract). Freya points out there were no fingerprints on the arrow, but is shocked when Mordred shows her the blood stained glove, ultimately wondering herself how the police could have missed it (and even accusing Mordred of having messed with the evidence once more). Mordred then suggests his own reconstruction of events: Baker was actually surprised by the killer while he was trying to pull out the arrow, had tried to defended himself with his hand (thus getting wounded) and had finally fell on the nearby bench while trying to run, ultimately leaving it broken. At this point however, the eyewitness comes out to refute Mordred's own reconstruction, pointing out on old man would never be able to outrun a merciless killer and that she is sure about what she saw. Unfortunately for her, she ignores Mordred possesses a power capable of sensing people's lies, the masks of lies. The mask spotted by the detective on her face leaves him no doubt she's blatantly lying. Since unlike him Hera is not able to sense any mask, Mordred promptly finds an excuse to run off and update her on the situation. The two decide that before interrogating Abigail they need to gather more information, beginning with Baker himself in order to find out how he was able to make it out alive if he wasn't the killer. Upon arriving at the Police station, Mordred is astonished to learn that the defense attorney assigned to Richard Baker is none other than David Casey, the very same lawyer that bailed him out by having him acquitted for lack of evidence during his own trial. David is quickly introduced as a ruthless analyst that would always prioritize personal profit above all, which had led him to accept Baker's defense despite his own hatred for the Black Bands. He also reveals he was the one who led the Black Bands to Mordred, assuming the detective's own questionable morals and his remarkable investigative skills would soon prove very helpful since the situation required him to both move under the radar to avoid the outbreak of a scandal and even resort to questionable methods if necessary. He quickly updates Mordred on the conditions of his client (emphasizing above all how his right hand was severely wounded) but also asks Mordred information about an unreported piece of evidence the detective had allegedly found. The player can choose to disclose the information with David or not depending on whether he prefers protecting Freya or helping the lawyer out in his trial. Neither choice will affect the plot significantly but several lines of dialogue will be influenced by it. David then sets up a meeting between Mordred and his client, allowing the detective to begin his interrogation. Baker is quick and blunt, both upon describing the nature of his affair with the victim (where he would provide financial support to help her fulfil her dreams in exchange for sex) and upon dismissing Mordred's critics of his political ideals, ultimately reminding him that the fates of the two of them are inevitably connected regardless of what he thinks. He then provides his own reconstruction of the events: a few days earlier Alicia had contacted him, threatening to blow the whistle if he refused to meet her in person to furtherly discuss details of the secret agreement between the two. Upon arriving at Treasury Park though, he had found Alicia already tied to the tree (as she was later found by the police itself). Still in panic, he was trying to pull out the arrow without realizing she was already dead when someone unknown suddendly attacked him, hurting with a knife the hand he istinctively used to protect himself. He then tried to run but was immediatly thrown against the bench by the mysterious assailant, fainting a few moments later. The last thing he could remember was a girl's scream, and he himself couldn't fathom how he had survived. Baker ultimately concludes his recollection by claiming he had woken up ten minutes later, finding himself alone with Alicia's body and no trace whatsoever of neither his assailant nor the screaming girl. This last statement causes Mordred to see a mask on Baker's face, allowing him to conclude the politician is hiding something just like Abigail. He thus proceeds to take control of the conversation, accusing Baker of having purposefully left out of his recollection one of the most important pieces of the puzzle: the person about to testify against him, Abigail herself. Baker tries to play fool but once again the mask suggests Mordred his intuition is correct. He thus concludes Baker is for some reason actually trying to protect the girl despite her allegations, but decides not to press any further without having collected enough evidence first. First things first, he heads back to Foley investigations. Here he finds Hera listening to music, specifically a piano composition she herself composed back when the two of them started the agency. She has over time found herself listening to it more and more often due to the increasing fear of losing everything: memories of said golden age are the only thing she has left now while she also can't help but realize the two of them ended up becoming the very monsters they had originally swore to destroy. What concerns Hera the most though is the awareness that now that Pandora's return is certain there is no way Mordred would ever stay out of the case and keep his promise not to help Baker and the Black bands, meaning he could end up contributing directly to their victory (a scenario Hera fears even more than Pandora himself). Mordred reassures her by saying they would take such a decision together and swearing he would never let anyone hurt her regardless. Hera furtherly discloses her feelings by revealing what she fears even more would be losing Mordred himself since he is the only one to have always stood in her defense, but Mordred objects she must have a distorted perception of him for making such a claim. The two of them thus proceed to bring their focus back to the case, the next crucial step being the interrogation of Anne Sherman. Upon reaching Baker's apartment Mordred is greeted with contempt by Anne and also mistaken for yet another journalist. He is fortunately able to outwit her by convincing her he was indeed just a detective trying to help, her own unawareness of his hiring being the consequence of Baker's attempt to protect her by keeping her in the shadows. The psychological domination her husband has on her became clear as soon as she started to provide her own reconstruction of the events: not only is she naive enough to believe Baker was really just trying to help Alicia (ultimately not having any affair with her), she is also firmly convinced of her husband's innocence in the murder, which must have been part of a political plot staged against him. She sees Alicia as nothing but a victim, and actually has also a very positive opinion of her since she was the only one who could cheer up her depressed sister (the two of them were close friends and shared a deep passion for art and movies). She also believes her sister was going to testify against Baker because someone had tricked her into thinking he was the culprit by exploiting the knowledge of her close friendship with Alicia to take advantage of Abigail's state of shock following her friend's death. Despite how incredibly twisted her perception of the events is, the absence of masks leaves Mordred no doubt that she's not lying and really believing what she's saying. Moreover, she won't let Mordred search her house for evidence either. Mordred is therefore forced to head back to his place, where Hera advices him to take advantage of Anne's fears to put pressure on her. He thus pays her another visit, this time reminding her that she herself could be in danger due to the many enemies that exist both within and outside of his husband's party. As predicted by Hera, she breaks down and decides to allow Mordred a thorough investigation. Upon witnessing how easily she can be manipulated, Mordred is however also moved by pity and tempted to reveal her the truth. The choice is once again left to the player. Picking up either choice won't influence the main plot but will have heavier ripercussions compared to former choices, as Anne Sherman's ultimate fate will be directly tied to what Mordred tells her (more information on this is available on her own page). Mordred's investigation leads him to a shocking discovery once he checks Abigiail's laptop: a few days before the murder she had been exchanging encrypted emails with a mysterious figure named "Tartarus", this despite the fact the security system shouldn't have allowed her to. Mordred quickly copies the information he found on an old chip (the only safe way to transfer it without showing up on the government's radar) and leaves, aiming to use it pressure Baker and find out more. Once Mordred arrives at the police station, Baker's lies are easy work for him thanks to his ability to sense his mask. Baker tries at first to claim Alicia had no relationship with his family whatsoever, only to have Mordred prove otherwise thanks to the picture of her and Abigail found in his home. Moreover, Mordred correctly assumes Abigail was aware of the secret relationship between Baker and Alice and correctly connects this piece with the rest of the puzzle: the real reason the assailant had not killed Baker too was that he had recognized the already mentioned screaming girl. She was none other than Abigail, who had arrived herself at the murder scene with plans to film Baker and Alicia's conversation in order to ruin him. Baker then tries to admit he used used his taser to overcome his assailant (his omission being allegedly caused by him not being supposed to own one since they are illegal in Nova Polemos), but Mordred doesn't buy it as he is well aware Baker's injured hand would have made it impossible for him to use any weapon. Mordred was ultimately right: Abigail and the killer actually knew each other (though Baker mentions she looked very scared of him) which was exactly the factor that left Baker with enough time to make his escape. Baker assumes both him and Abigail were left alive by the killer because he still needed them both: her as an eyewitness that could be easily blackmailed into testifying and he himself as the scapegoat to be framed as the murderer. Baker had thus hired Mordred to find another scapegoat to frame, a scenario he hoped would also be deemed acceptable by the killer. As a final remark Baker explicitly says that should something bad happen to Abigail, Mordred should consider himself dead too. Mordred thus leaves for Treasury Park, hoping Abigail is still there so he can confront her about the secret emails he found. Once he arrives he finds Freya and immediatly updates her on the whole situation, causing her a visible shock. She immediatly asks for the emails, suggesting she could have them quickly decrypted. Mordred deems her trustworthy enough and gives her the chip, but also warns her not to share it with any of her colleagues given some of them could destroy such important evidence out of their hatred for Baker. Freya replies she doesn't trust Mordred but trusts her own colleagues even less, ultimately accepting Mordred's offer to work together to find out what happened. She also promises she'll have Abigail go to his office as soon as possible. Once she arrives, he proceeds to confront her about what really happened the night of the murder. To begin with, after her sudden scream allowed Baker to escape the killer had for some reason left her alive despite having clearly seen her. Category:Chapters